Shellac Manicure: First Impressions

I've been keen to try and gel manicure for a little while now. After a bit of nudging and assistance from Sarah from I Heart Cosmetics, I booked myself in for a bit of "research". If you read my whitterings regularly, you'll know my nails are poor. Their condition, as well as my home life, seem to ruin regular manicures in less than a day, so the idea of something lasting a couple of weeks sounds wonderful.

I had the manicure last night and went for the colour Rose Bud. The lady that did my nails had both Shellac and Gelish colours and after a little discussion she said that this particular polish had lasted the longest on clients with similar nail problems to me. As I suspected, because my nails are prone to peeling, the gel manicure may not last as long as the usual two weeks. Of course, I will chart my progress like a good beauty blogger!

So far so good, my nails still look as good as they did last night. The finish feels different to normal. A little thicker and more rubbery but not unpleasant. The colour is pretty and quite safe (I originally picked something more vampy), though it does seem a wee bit transparent in certain lights. I do love the fact that my nails look well groomed though and I'm keeping everything crossed that it will really be a no chip manicure even on my terrible nails.

I hope you're all having a wonderful New Year's Eve (or New Year's Day if you're one of my Aussie followers). I'm looking forward to more blogging excitement in 2011!

Friday Confessional: May Loves Makeup

It's the gorgeous May from May Loves Makeup that shares her naughty past with us today. It's a great way to ring in the New Year by letting go of your past misdemeanors. Feel free to offload in the comments box, I'd love to have a laugh help you out! Take it away May...

Confession is good for the soul, go ahead and unburden yourself! I promise I won’ t judge.

I’m  guilty of abusing my hair in my younger years. I regularly tortured it with Sun-In for a couple of years in my teens and not content with that I used an actual iron to make my rebellious locks super-straight before sophisticated hair straighteners came into my life!  I wasn’t feeling too sophisticated when I sat on my GHDs a couple of years ago though. I was getting ready to go out, prancing about in my underwear, placed my GHDs on the bed whilst I quickly skipped to the bathroom to get some heat protector spray and you can guess the rest, the physical and emotional scars are still there!

In Secondary school you wouldn’t catch me without lashings and lashings of black kohl round my eyes and I had a nasty habit of leaving my makeup on overnight. I can’t bear the thought of doing that now though!

Do you think it will catch on?

There  don’ t you feel better now?..........

Aunty Brown has a few more questions though; it’ s true that I’ m the nosy type.

When was the last time you visited the hairdresser?

On Monday!  I had a trim, a half head of highlights and of course a good gossip!  I try to visit every few weeks.

You have a choice: bad hair or bad nails?

This is just mean! I’m going to say bad nails because it’s probably less noticeable but it would drive me up the wall!

What is the oldest item of make up in your collection?

I try to be hygienic and have regular clear outs of my makeup stash but it’s probably my Benefit Dandelion blush, I’ve had it for years! Despite using it very regularly it’s still half-full!

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Thank you so much for sharing May. Your GHD incident made me wince, those things get so hot! I imagine you have a very lasting memory of that occasion?

If you would like to take a turn and unburden yourself in the Friday Confessional you can email me at modestybrown@googlemail.com. It's open to everyone: if you have something to confess, I'm happy to hear it!

My Favourites of 2010

Rouge Bunny Rouge Irreverence
I've waxed lyrical about this enough already, so I'm sure it's no surprise this is on my favourites list. The Rouge Bunny Rouge lipsticks have a beautiful moisturising texture and this particular shade is a perfect rosy everyday colour on me.

Rouge Bunny Rouge Raven Glaze Lacquer Liner
 This was a surprisingly great purchase for me this year.  It's got a fine and non-scratchy tip and I find it very easy to draw a fine line with it. It's also great for getting liner right up close to the lashes so that I don't end up with that tell tale gap at the roots.

Hourglass Film Noir mascara
I was sent this for review and it rapidly became a tremendous favourite. I've never really used expensive mascaras before and I was convinced there wouldn't be any difference. I had to eat my words though, as this is pretty much HG territory for me.  It makes my lashes really black and more obvious, it feels soft and it never smudges or flakes. I particularly like the effect of this with the RBR Lacquer liner as it gives the illusion of much thicker lashes.

MAC Hug Me
This is similar to Irreverence for me. It's a pretty, everyday colour that just gives a slightly more polished look to the lips. If I'm ever unsure what colour to wear, I'll reach for this.

Lilac Allure Anniversary set

Guerlain Rue de Passy and Suqqu EX-07 Blend Eyeshadow palettes
I really wanted to include one of these palettes and couldn't decide which one. So I gave up and thought I'd mention both! I'll often pick these out when I need a quick but sophisticated look. The Suqqu in particular has been on the train with me a few times. It may be surprising to see Rue de Passy on here after my initial disappointment. It maybe isn't as versatile as I'd hoped it would be but I really like the colours and that fact that I can create a simple no fuss eye look very quickly.

Edward Bess After Sunset Compact Rouge
The texture of the compact rouge blushers is amazing. Creamy, light and without even a hint of greasiness. This colour maybe isn't instantly appealing in the pan but I love it for the definition it gives my cheeks. It's another one that's really handy for travel. I'm rather keen on the fig scent too.

RMK Concealer
This has been a good under-eye concealer for me. It provides decent coverage and doesn't move around too much. It also has the added benefit of being pigmented enough to conceal blemishes so I like to keep this in my handbag. It's quite yellow based so I'm not sure this would suit everyone but it has peaked my interest in trying more RMK products.

Illamasqua Unrequited and Beg Blushers

Illamasqua Unrequited blusher
This blusher looks candy pink in the pan but isn't the least bit frightening on my cheeks. It just gives me a nice, healthy glow. Illamasqua blushers are lovely to use, they're pigmented, finely milled and long wearing. I've reached for this all year round and I find it goes with a variety of looks. After success with this, my first pink blusher, I went on to get quite a few more but I most often come back to this one.


Which items have been your favourites of 2010? Have you found any holy grail items this year?

Accidental Smoky Eye

I mentioned this "accidental" eye look in my recent Colorburst Plum post. I wanted to share it as I was really pleased with it, even though it wasn't right with the lipstick. In fact, I wore a slightly muted version of it again today.

The reason I refer to it as accidental is because it came about from correcting a mistake. I wanted to use my Avon Supershock eyeliner to just create a simple lined eye to wear with the dark lipstick. I struggle to use this eyeliner neatly though and I ended up with really thick, punky lined eyes. I tried to tidy it up with an eyeliner brush. Still no good. I tried to smudge it out. Even worse! So, my only option (other than taking it off of course) was to use eyeshadow to tone it down.

I opted for my Les Gris L'Wren palette as I thought a smoky eye would work well with the liner. I pressed the darker of the two greys on to the mobile lid, over the top of the smudged liner and I softened the outer edges with the lightest shimmery shade from the palette. I was really pleased with how well it softened the stark black of the liner.

Les Gris L'Wren palette

My apologies for all of the photographs but I was pleased with how it looked. It was very quick to repeat again today and with a light gloss on the lips, I felt much happier wearing it out in the day.

A Week of Lips: Avon Charged Cherry

Charged Cherry in one of Avon's Ultra Colour Rich Mega Impact Lipstick. Catchy name, non? For something with words like Mega, Ultra and Impact in the name, this lipstick is surprisingly sheer. It's a strawberry pink shade rather than a true red and it has pretty blue sparkles. The texture is slippy and moisturising but the staying power is quite limited.

The lipstick bullet is quite unusual in it's shape, fortunately this doesn't have any impact on application. I have to admit that I was decidedly underwhelmed by this lipstick, you can probably tell from the full face photo! It's OK but the colour didn't wow me and it took a bit of effort to stick with it and not apply something else.

Meh!

I bought this when it was on offer but at a full price of £8 I think it's expensive for what it is. At this price point, I would recommend looking at the Revlon Colorburst lipsticks instead as they have a nicer formula and better pigmentation.

Lancôme Éclat Miracle

Éclat Miracle is a radiance fluid and is Lancome's answer to MAC Strobe Cream. It contains the same 'lit from within' light reflecting particles that are in the Teint Miracle Foundation. So it gives a refined sheen rather than an obvious shimmer. I was really interested to give it a try as a highlighter as I struggle to find formulas that don't look a little dirty on my cheeks.

This is a fairly lightweight fluid and is easy to blend. I do have to be careful not to rub so much that I take off my blusher so I tend to pat it on with my finger tips. I think buffing it with a brush might be better than rubbing with finger tips if you are applying over make up. One of these days, I will actually take my own advice instead of being lazy and not reaching for a brush! It's a radiance fluid so you can also apply this under foundation or even mix it with your foundation to give a more subtle glow. I've been wearing it quite a lot on days that I haven't applied foundation, as I find it gives a more polished finish to a look.

Flash

Hopefully you can see the sheen on my hands and on my cheek bones in the full face pictures. I really like it as it gives a subtle highlight and I find it easy to use. The texture is pleasant: it's light and non-greasy and most importantly for me, it doesn't make me look dirty. I think this is a great product if like me you struggle a little with highlighters. It's good for pepping up winter skin too.

Éclat Miracle costs £19.50 for a 20ml tube and I would highly recommend it if your skin could do with a little radiance 'boost'. I will definitely be re-purchasing when this runs out.


Disclosure: PR sample.

A Week of Lips: Revlon Colorburst in Plum

I wore the lipstick a few days ago now, having had my little break for Christmas. After wearing a selection of more high end products, I wondered how this would fare. The Colorburst formula is quite luxurious feeling though and I wouldn't say I noticed a big difference in terms of texture or pigmentation. It stayed put whilst I demolished a mince pie so it gets a thumbs up for staying power. However, I can see from the lip swatches that it is less forgiving of winter lips.

It's a dark colour, certainly darker and more brown based than the other berry colours that I have. I made a bit of an error on my eyeshadow pairing with this (it accidentally turned in to smoky eye but more of that in another post) and ended up feeling like I'd gone goth. Unless this is for evening wear, I feel more confident with a bare minimum on the eye as the lips are dramatic enough.

Whilst I like this colour and the staying power and comfort are good, it isn't going to knock Nocturnal off the top spot. These are good lipsticks for the price but I prefer the less dramatic colours like Blush and Rosy Nude.

Merry Christmas to you all!

I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I have plenty of posts to come but I think it's time to sign off and enjoy some festive fun with the family. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for making this blog so much fun to do. Take care and see you soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xx

Festive Friday Confessional...

It's been a while since I took a turn in the confessional and it feels right to unburden myself pre-Christmas. You never know, I might actually set a few resolutions for the New Year!

 

Confession is good for the soul, go ahead and unburden yourself!

- I haven't had my hair cut since my visit to Eleven which was about 4/5 months ago. Now the Brazilian blow dry has completely gone from my hair, it's back to it's regular messy self. The post baby re-growth doesn't help matters. Let us hope that this shames me in to booking a trim. Don't hold your breath though...

- For reasons of insulation, the leg shaving is becoming a bit irregular.

- I sharpened some of eyeliner pencils the other day and was quite disgusted at the state of my sharpener. I realised I've only ever had the one. I don't care to think how old it is, though I'm pretty sure in those days there was no such thing as anti-bacterial sharpeners. Oh dear..

- Hair seems to be featuring quite a lot here. Following on with that trend, I admit that it's been way too long since my brows were tended to. I'd been tidying up with tweezers but they've become really lopsided. Something needs to be done urgently before I'm too ashamed to do face of the day posts!

Today's FOTD...

- Lastly and this is particularly embarrassing, my house would probably be clean and tidy if it weren't for blogging. I will be doing something about that today but lets just say it's a good job you can crop pictures!

Shamefully stuff, I don't think Aunty Brown will be very pleased! I think some major defuzzing is in order....


If you would like to take a turn and unburden yourself in the Friday Confessional you can email me at modestybrown@googlemail.com. It's open to everyone: if you have something to confess, I'm happy to hear it!

Beauty Bloggers Unwrapped Interview

I'm over on Makeup Savvy doing my Unwrapped interview today. I love Fee's blog and as a closet fan of Christmas it was very enjoyable. Of course, in true Modesty fashion I couldn't resist being a bit silly. I'm sure you'll all enjoy my very festive photoshopping.....

A Week of Lips: NARS Bougainville

Yesterday I wore NARS Bougainville lipgloss. I'll admit that I'm more of a lipstick kind of girl but when I saw the recent NARS collection and spotted the purple lipglosses I was smitten. Bougainville is a beautifully glossy berry/wine colour and is actually quite similar to the Hourglass lipstick that I talked about yesterday. It's a little more purple than it appears in some of the pictures. It is nicely pigmented and it goes on densely however, it is possible to sheer it out if that is your preference.

Whilst it is a gorgeous colour and it made a change to wear a gloss, there were some downsides for me. It doesn't have the same staying power as the lipsticks and I had to reapply frequently. I'm rubbish at frequent touch ups so by the evening I'd given up and put Nocturnal on again. It feathered a little at the lip line too so I needed to wear a lipliner. The other thing to mention is the strange smell and I seem to think I've heard this before about NARS glosses. It's not over-powering but if you like your glosses to smell of vanilla, you'd be out of luck here. It isn't overly sticky though which is nice. To see how it looks on other skin tones, you can see swatches on Temptalia and Makeup and Beauty Blog.

Are you more of a lipgloss or lipstick person? Do you have any recommendation for other bold, pigmented lipglosses?

A Week of Lips: Hourglass Femme Rouge in Nocturnal

I was sent this lipstick by a very lovely like-minded friend. It's another that I have only worn once before. The fir`st time I wore it, I actually found it quite drying so I made sure I'd applied lip balm underneath. I shouldn't have worried though as I actually found it to be quite creamy and moisturising. I think the difference was that I was mostly indoors yesterday rather than out in the cold and wind last time.

Over lipbalm

I adore this colour, it is a dark, cool berry shade and has a lovely glossy sheen. It reminds me a little of Edward Bess Night Romance but I think Nocturnal is a few notches darker. The lipstick formula is soft and easy to apply. I didn't realise how wobbly my lines were before looking at the close ups. I'm sure this could be easily corrected applying with a lip brush but I rather like applying this straight from the bullet. It's pigmented and lasts well. It did have a tendency to fade out from the centre so l would recommend having a mirror on hand for touch ups. It would be no embarrassment getting this lipstick out in public though. I love the outer casing and both the unusual bullet shape and the firm lid closure are nice features.

I'm so taken with this the second time round that I'm eyeing up other shades. I think some of the lighter colours would be great for everyday. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that these will feature in the Zuneta sale.

Hourglass Femme Rouge lipsticks are available exclusively from Zuneta in the UK and cost £22.